bit-tech Shopping: Electronic Arts Rock Band: Special Edition (PS3)

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Months

Strengths: Smashing game!

Weaknesses: Hardware limited Warranty, unexchangeable from the retail store.

Summary: This game is fantastic for a different experience for multi-player games. If you don't care about stats or gaining fans you can play easy or medium hardness for some quick fun alone or with a few friends. If you like hard rock it has a great selection and more downloadable songs every few weeks.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Great Soundtrack, Multi-player, Additional Download Content

Weaknesses: Guitar Controller not Compatible with Guitar Hero

Summary: This game may go down in history as one of the best games made. Gather some friends together and jam out to a great set of songs. If you were a fan of guitar hero games, this is a must have. Game play is great and allows the user to play lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals, or any combination. Guitar controller is wireless and works pretty well. The only limitation is the lack of compatibility with Guitar Hero Controllers. This makes it impossible to play both lead and bass guitars simultaneously as additional controllers are not yet for sale. Drum stands is great and can be pretty challenging at first. Vocals are a blast for those who like to sing in the shower. Overall, this is a must have title for any system.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 2 Months

Strengths: Nice Music Variety, Fun Multiplayer Game

Weaknesses: Hardware is question quality, Not compatible with Guitar Hero Guitars, Expensive

Summary: I bought this around Christmas and over all its a great game for multi-player. Lots of song variety and the online capabilities are pretty fun. The game is challenging depending on your instrument of choice (i.e. Guitar, Drums, Mic). The biggest downfall is the quality of the guitar (I already returned 1) as well as the lack of compatibility with the Guitar Hero guitars. The box says compatible with most guitars and yet it doesn't work with Guitar Hero III guitar for the PS3. The game is fun, but for a single player experience, I'm not sure its worth the $170.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3

Strengths: Teamwork, Fun, Download more music

Weaknesses: Terrible Customer Support, pricey for a single game, not a wireless microphone, drums foot pedal feels a little akward.

Summary: Very fun once you get working hardware. Other people have complained that the guitars aren't working out of the box... In my case it was the microphone... It seemed to have a bad connection and would cut in-and-out and stop the game because of it. I waited for over 2 weeks for the replacement microphone (even though their customer service claimed 3-5 days for expedited delivery). Even with the UPS Tracking # saying EA had only requested pickup - several customer service reps kept telling me it was already shipped. The working replacement finally arrived.Once the hardware all works - it's a lot of fun. One of the most fun songs to do is Blue Oyster Cult's "The Reaper" -- especially doing the COWBELL - with the microphone. If you've ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit - you'll really appreciate.There's some very nice "team" concepts that are missing in a lot of other video games (especially non-Wii games). For example - you can get a failing band member out of trouble by completing a power up - and you have to make group decisions about how to "manage" the band...I would give 5 stars if the price was lower and if you got working hardware out of the box.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 30 Days

Strengths: multiple player, realistic drum play

Weaknesses: unreliable hardware

Summary: This is one of my favorite games. It has given my family tons of entertainment. This game comes with a guitar, drum set, and microphone. The hardware is the only problem with this game. There are many people who have guitars or drums that are not registering the notes they play correctly. The manufacturer has a website to return your defective hardware, but many are still getting defective hardware again. Except for this, the game is wonderful. If they can develop better hardware, this game would be perfect. Right now, there is no third party hardware available, but I heard that other companies are trying to develop new hardware.